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Monday, November 3, 2014

#Cre8time to Say Thank You... with a Special Handmade Gift!



Welcome! It's the first Monday in November which marks a new monthly Designer Crafts Connection Bloghop. This month's theme is Handmade Thank You Cards and Gifts... and today I've made both. I love to make cards and embellish them with a special handmade resin piece to add dimension and unique interest. My floral card gives a sneek peek of the coordinating gift that will accompany it... a matching ring!


With the holidays fast approaching - there are several events, birthdays and holiday gatherings and for many I use my cre8time to make special gifts and handmade cards. Today's project features a vintage drawer pull that I've molded using Amazing Mold Putty, then cast in Amazing Casting Resin to use as a flat embellishment and also a ring.


Creating jewelry and embellishments are quick and easy using Amazing Crafting Products! I gathered a few molds and cast resin pieces leftover from previous resin play. Moldmaking and casting can be a little time consuming, so I work on several projects at a time to use up all of my resin and make best use of my limited cre8time. I'm trying an experiment with making a ring, so I also I grabbed a ready-made Darice ribbon choker {just in case} and I'm ready to start. Using cast resin pieces, a ring mold made of Amazing Mold Rubber combined with Alumilite dyes and colorants, I can make resin rings out of anything my heart desires.


First I poured and mixed equal parts of "A" and "B" of Amazing Casting Resin and added two drops of the new Fluorescent (Flo) Green Dye to 2 ounces of resin. Keep in mind, I have multiple molds at the ready that are getting this same color, hence the large amount. I poured this mixture into my vintage drawer pull mold, ring mold and two other molds to use up the resin mixture. I'm going for a pale jade coloring when the Amazing Casting Resin reaches the flash point and changes from clear to opaque.


I had a resin ring from a previous pour ready to go dyed a pale yellow. I gently held this into the wet resin to fuse the ring to the new poured cast handle. The resin cures very quickly so I only had to hold this about a minute or two until the curing completed. You need to make sure to sand and clean the resin surface that will be fused to the new casting. This saves a step in having to glue or wire the item to the ring form. 


I waited about 15 minutes before removing from mold to wait for resin to completely harden. Voilá! I now have a ring made from a vintage drawer pull in a lovely pale jade color. The gold edging resulted from residue of Alumilite Gold Metallic Powder in the mold from a previous resin pour. I really love how this looks, but I've added a little color by spraying with purple and iridescent metallic mists, then rubbing the high points with silver leaf Rub n' Buff®. 


To go with my gift, I created a handmade matching card by combining some coordinating cardstock scraps, and a stamped, paper-pieced flower using a doily stamp from Viva Las VegaStamps! - topped off with a matching resin drawer pull as the flower center {this one inked pink}. My simple color blocked cards are completely transformed with the added POP's of dimension.


perfect matching set...
and a quick and easy
Thank You at the ready!

Thanks for visiting. Please drop by this Friday, November 7th as the Designer Crafts Connection takes on a new challenge - you don't want to miss it! Sb :)

Continue on the Designer Crafts Connection "Handmade Thank You Gifts" Bloghop by selecting hop back/forward on the logo below.

The Sky is the Limit in my #Cre8time with Amazing Crafting Products!


Hello friends! It's November which is my favorite month of the year because it has my FAVORITE holiday of the year... TURKEY DAY {aka my birthday celebration}!!! Today I'm starting off the month with a bang with my latest "Thoughtful Abstractions" column in the new "Make and Bake" Issue of the Unruly Paper Arts Blogozine. This month is dedicated to focusing on ways to Make and/or Bake your own embellishments using products such as Shrink Plastic, Paper Clay, Polymer Clay, Amazing Mold Putty, and Resins... totally right up my creative alley!

CLICK HERE to view more on this.

There is also a brand new Reader's Art Quest at Unruly Paper Arts. This month's challenge theme is "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which is perfect way to spend a little Cre8time getting in the spirit of the season! This month Amazing Crafting Products is the sponsor of the Reader's Art Quest Challenge and if you play along and linkup your creation via inLinkz HERE, you could be entered to win this AMAZING prize package!!!

  

I'm all in the Christmas spirit and beginning to create a menagerie of these snow domes using recycled plastic bottles, wine corks, patterned paper scraps, ribbons/fibers and an altered bottle brush tree. These will be perfect handmade holiday gifts for family and friends {CLICK HERE to see how I made these}.


In my "Thoughtful Abstractions" post today at Unruly Paper Arts, I share how I create a mold of some original artwork I've created to use for embellishments and other altered projects. That just scratches the surface of what these AMAZING products can do. Please scroll down to see a sampling of some of my projects that utilize Amazing Crafting Products.


Click on the image or link below to jump to the post for each. I invite you to jump over to the Amazing Crafting Products Blog to see MORE... there is a whole Creative Team providing project ideas, tips and inspiration daily!




Wishbone charm molded/cast in Amazing Casting Resin




Steampunk Cuckoo Clock... yes that's a PEEP®!


















My prized creation... the Golden "Steamunk Eggship"

And I have so many more... too many to share. Please follow me via bloglovin if you want to keep up with my creative adventures.
Thanks for visiting. I hope you are inspired to try something new and look forward to seeing your creations in the Reader's Art Quest. Happy Monday! :) Sb

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Some Wonderful Wednesday News... and a Save the Date!


Today is a grand occassion... the launch of the new e-book "Cool2Cast" - a collaboration between Tiffany Windsor and Bella Crafts Publishing. "Cool2Cast" is filled with tips, techniques and project ideas for jewelry, home décor and other embellishments using Cool2Cast, as well as a gorgeous gallery of project images to inspire you. 

I have been a follower of Tiffany Windsor for years over on Cool2Craft and I love her Cool2Cast casting medium. I am thrilled to announce that I am participating in a blog hop to celebrating the "Cool2Cast" book launch starting today, that goes through November 7th! Please drop by each day - and look for me to be joining the fun on November 6th.


The following is a list of participants for our blog hop with their names and websites. All you need to do is click on the participant’s website and that will take you directly to their website where you will find more information about this fabulous new book! 

ALSO... Tiffany is hosting a huge giveaway on her website { www.cool2craft.com } that you’re not going to want to miss!!!

"Cool2Cast" Book Launch Bloghop Participants

October 29th
Tiffany Windsor -- www.cool2craft.com
Marjolaine Walker -- www.marjolainewalker.com

October 30th

October 31st
Laura Bray -- www.laurabraydesigns.com

November 1st
Roberta Birnbaum -- http://decorablesart.com

November 2nd
Vishu Reberholt -- http://fabnsassy.blogspot.com

November 3rd
Marjie Kemper -- http://www.marjiekemper.com
Linda Peterson -- http://lindapetersondesigns.com

November 4th
Larissa Pittman -- www.muffinsandlace.com

November 5th

November 6th
Rita Barakat -- www.ritabarakat.com
Susan Brown -- http://www.sbartist.com {yes - that's ME!!}
Anita Scroggins -- http://theflamingochronicals.com

November 7th
Lisa Fulmer -- www.lisalizalou.com
Carmen Flores -- Tanis http://florestanisstudio.com
Suzann Sladcik Wilson -- www.beadphoria.wordpress.com
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